MARKING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI (Scholarships available)

Join us for this national gathering marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and offer Campaign of Non-Violence promoters and others with significant opportunities to deepen the vision and practice of nonviolent change.

Social Action & Science

Being With DyingThis Professional Training Program for Clinicians in Compassionate Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying is fostering a revolution in care of the dying and seriously ill. Clinicians learn essential tools for taking care of dying people with skill and compassion.

ChaplaincyA visionary and comprehensive two-year program for a new kind of chaplaincy to serve individuals, communities, the environment, and the world.

8/24/2009 Newsletter

Upaya eNews: Zen Master Dogen: Time/being; August 24th, 2009

"For the time being the highest peak, for the time being the deepest ocean; for the time being a crazy mind, for the time being a Buddha body; for the time being a Zen Master, for the time being an ordinary person; for the time being earth and sky... Since there is nothing but this moment, 'for the time being' is all the time there is." -- Zen Master Dogen

Death Panel Playbook: How to Go in Peace

Personally, I am in favor of death panels. Bring 'em on. Where's my living will? Will I die at home or in a hospital? Should I play music? Have it catered? And what about the machines that might keep me alive some extra days: Are they worth it?

Death. It's the one thing we all have in common with Rush Limbaugh. We don't know when, and we don't know how, but we all know it's coming. No matter how much you fear it, deny it or try to exercise it away, your death is a part of your life. The more you think about it and prepare for it, the happier and healthier your life will be.

The death panel of my dreams would meet me at Starbuck's one day when I least expected it. No hooded black capes, no sickles, no "I just Pulled the Plugon Grannie" t-shirts. All my designated death panelists are kind and compassionate beings, very well informed about enlightened end-of-life care, as detailed in a wonderful and wise book called Being With Dying:Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death (Shambhala) by Joan Halifax.

I've been dying to mention my friend Joan's book for months, but now, with death panel fear-mongering front and center in the health care debate, the time has come. Death panels are works of fiction, but the story you tell yourself about your own death -- facing truth, finding meaning, accepting what is -- is true and vital. The deeper your understanding, the more inner peace you can experience.

"The sooner we can embrace death, the more time we have to live completely,"writes Roshi Joan, a Ph.D. anthropologist and Zen priest who has more than 40 years of experience working with dying people and their caregivers. In 1994, she founded the Project on Being With Dying (more info on www.upaya.org), which has trained hundreds of health care professionals at Harvard Medical School, Georgetown Medical School and many other academic institutions. In the best of all worlds, Halifax and Team would train my death panelists, too.

"Old age, sickness and death do not have to be equated with suffering," she writes. "We can live and practice in such a way that dying is a natural rite of passage, a completion of your life and even the ultimate in liberation."

The advice and counsel she gives in "Being With Dying" is state-of-the-art and straight from the heart, a stunning guidebook to certain realities that will leave you filled with wisdom, hope and joy. Here are some of Roshi Joan's teachings on death:

GIVE UP EXPECTATIONS ABOUT A GOOD DEATH.

When you come to a death bed -- whether it's your own or someone you love --"don't have expectations about a specific outcome -- about dying a good death, or being a perfect caregiver." In Joan's long experience,"there is no good or bad death," there is only the end-of-life that is uniquely your own. "Being with dying is simply being with dying; each being does it his or her own way."

GIVE NO FEAR.

"As we step over the threshold into being with dying," writes Halifax,"the most important gift we can give others and ourselves is the gift of no fear." It requires some thought, but with training, it is possible to let go, to simply bear witness, to take compassionate action.

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE; GROWTH IS OPTIONAL.

Plato told his students, "Practice dying." It is wisdom disguised as weirdness, and the sooner you take it to heart, the better. Everything changes. That's called impermanence, and it never goes away. When we accept our shared mortality, Roshi Joan explains, "we deepen our commitment to living a life of value and meaning." One way to practice dying is to practice generosity, she says.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Caregivers can burn out if they don't commit to a healthy plan for compassionate self-care. Rest, and restore yourself as needed. Involve and support other caregivers. Joan the Caregiver's favorite restorative practice? Vigorous exercise and meditation.

Don't wait for the crazy debate about death panels to die down. Get your copy of"Being With Dying" now, and liberate yourself with new understanding.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! BEING THERE

"Like it or not, most of us ... will accompany loved ones and others as they die. If we are fortunate, we will be there for our own death, as well." -- Joan Halifax

Diana Winston spent more than a decade pursuing inner peace and serenity within the walls of Buddhist monasteries in Southeast Asia, immersed in periods of mindful meditation that lasted from just a few hours to a year.

But that's not the journey she imagines most people would take.

"My life story is not a good example of what I expect people to follow," she said, smiling, as she sat in her office in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

In fact, Winston rarely talks about the spiritual evolution that brought her here, to a large university where researchers are discovering that the practice of mindfulness meditation has many physical and psychological benefits, including slowing the progression of HIV in patients suffering from stress and helping ADHD teens focus.

While it was this kind of research that brought her to UCLA, Winston, as director of mindfulness education, primarily teaches mentally healthy — yet stressed-out — people. She also shares what she has learned from her years of practicing mindful meditation as a Buddhist with those dealing with difficulties such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

Going beyond religion

“To me, Buddhism is really secondary because the questions people are dealing with are all the same: How do we live happier, healthier and saner lives and have more peace? It doesn't matter whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist. These techniques are tremendously valuable, and so I've learned to teach them in a way that makes them accessible to all."

Through the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (MARC), Winston has taught the practice to hundreds of teens and adults, including Bruin football players, medical students, interns and residents, and entire UCLA departments seeking to de-stress. All her classes are open to the general public.

"Most people are not going to go live in a monastery," she said. "So I'm interested in how we can bring mindfulness into our lives in the midst of family, job and other responsibilities. It's not necessarily about being mindful every second. It's about what you can do when you're caught in traffic or getting ready to meet your boss. How can I stop, take a breath and manage my anxiety? How can I live life more fully?

"We teach people how to be more present in the midst of daily life, how to be more self-aware of physical sensations, emotions and thoughts. We teach people how to deal with difficult emotions — like anxiety and depression — to help us be less reactive and more in the present moment."

Happiness from the inside out

Winston first became exposed to Buddhism during her junior year abroad in Thailand as a Brown University student. But it wasn't until after graduation when she worked for the Free Tibet movement in Dharamsala, India, headquarters for the Dalai Lama's government in exile, that she became "really hooked on Buddhist teachings because they seemed to explain a lot of things in my life,” she said. “I saw the way I was endlessly pursuing praise and success, and trying to make something of myself outside of myself." Buddhists, she found, presented her with an alternative, "that happiness wasn't about something outside of myself, but can come through inner peace."

Over the ensuing years, she deepened her study of Buddhism and Vipassana (mindfulness) meditation techniques. Going on meditation retreats in Thailand and on the East Coast transformed her life, she found. "It was like going to a spiritual bootcamp. I was learning to find peace within myself, despite life's ups and downs, cultivating more compassion, self-acceptance and kindness for myself and others."

Combining social activism with Buddhism, Winston started a volunteer program within the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in the San Francisco Bay Area that offered training, study and meditation to volunteers who worked in homeless shelters, soup kitchens and environmentalist organizations.

In 1997, she felt the need to fully immerse herself in a spiritual life so she traveled to a monastery in Burma to spend a year living as a Buddhist nun, "which meant I had to shave my head, put all my possessions in storage and live by certain precepts." There was to be no reading or writing; no eating after 12 noon; no sex, drugs or alcohol; and, oddly enough, no sleeping on high and luxurious beds. "It was easy to give up those things because I was so interested in what I was doing. It was so powerful to me," she recalled.

Mindful meditation consumed all her waking hours — sleeping was limited. This austere lifestyle, spent mostly in silence, left her feeling lonely at times and sometimes sick because of the diet and heat. "But it becomes your life. You just live it. Over time, it made me learn to trust myself and know I had a capacity to handle whatever life brought me," she said.

"Parts of it, I hated; and parts of it, I loved," she said. "When you spend that much time with yourself, your mind gets very, very subtle. You become very aware, and all sorts of insights and self-understanding arise. It's pretty amazing." The experience wasn't just self-absorbing, but helped her develop "an open heart," heightening her sense of compassion for others.

Giving back

After a year, she said, "I was done. I felt I could sit here in a monastery for 20 years, but what about the rest of the world where there was so much suffering?"

Feeling the need to give back, Winston began training to teach mindfulness. She first taught it to children in India and later to teens and adults at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, Calif. "The teens would primarily come because their parents forced them," she said. "One of my philosophies is that you can't force anybody to do it." But by helping them connect on a deeper level with other teens, Winston found a way to engage them. The program she built — she subsequently wrote a book about mindfulness for teens — was very successful and now replicated by other organizations.

"I began to think: How do we take this out of the insular world of Buddhism into the wider world in a way that makes real change possible?"

An invitation from Dr. Susan Smalley to join a research project at the Semel Institute and ultimately teach mindfulness at the new MARC center gave her what she was looking for — a shared vision that mindfulness could be applied in a secular, mainstream way to life.

Now Winston, who is about to give birth to her first baby, is ready to conquer the next frontier – "practicing mindfulness with a screaming infant," she said, laughing.

For information on upcoming classes and meditations that can be downloaded free, visit the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center at www.marc.ucla.edu

News Brief: Thay in hospital

Thich Nhat Hanh has fallen ill with a severe lung infection and is hospitalized in Massachusetts General Hospital. He will be there for the next several weeks. His many followers gathered in Estes Park have received a letter from him. See Upaya's blog: www.upaya.org

Upcoming at Upaya

To let go is to lose your foothold temporarily. Not to let go is to lose your foothold forever. --Soren Kierkegaard

Wednesday Night Dharma Talks: August 26th, 2009 (5:30 PM) Dharma Talk: Sensei Beate, Continuous Practice: Circle of the Way. You are invited to the Jukai Ceremony at 8:30PM. Wed. Aug. 26. No Public Sitting during 12:20-1pm during sesshin; The temple is open for morning and evening sits.

• Meditation Instruction at Upaya: August 2, September 20, October 4, November 22, December 13. Please join us in the Upaya Zendo at 11:00 am to learn our practice.

• Metta Refuge Council: Starting this Tuesday, April 14, 2009, our weekly council group will begin at 9:45 am and last until 12:05 pm at Upaya House. When there is a change of location, you will be notified. For any questions, please contact Susan Benjamin at 505-982-9261 or email arttherapy@aol.com. For details: http://www.upaya.org/action/caring.php

Join us in the garden! Upaya is doing its spring planting season. We welcome volunteer gardeners and donations of vegetable and herb seeds and sprouts. Contact Rakushin, shakti@upaya.org

2010 Retreat Schedule: Upaya has already much of 2010 planned with exceptional retreats and teachers. As we have grown in renown over the past years, we advise early registration so you have the chance to reserve a room. Programs include such teachers and scholars as Matthieu Ricard, Richard Davidson, Amishi Jha, John Dunne, Al Kaszniak, Roshi Joan, Lynne Twist, Sensei Beate, Roshi Enkyo, Kaz Tanahashi, and many others. Contact Roberta for details about our upcoming programs. registrar@upaya.org

Jukai, August 26, 8:30PM

By the dharma is meant the heart, for there is not dharma apart from the heart.--Huang Po

registrar@upaya.org This workshop offers training in classical and free Zen calligraphy, as we explore how brush, mind, body, and each other are a whole cloth. We open the well of creativity by reproducing ideograms from ancient Chinese and Japanese masterpieces. We interpret these works and witness joy while exploring the creative process. We also create original spontaneous works. For beginners and seasoned artists. Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi is a master calligrapher, Dogen scholar, and social activist.

Upaya News

Zen is a way of using your mind. living your life, and doing it with other people. --Gary Snyder

Fifty people are sitting the summer sesshin at Upaya at this time. The theme of this intensive practice period is Zen Master Dogen's "continuous practice." Talks are being given by Sensei Kaz Tanahashi, Roshi Joan, Sensei Beate, Sensei Kaz, and Kyojo Bakker. On Wednesday evening, sangha members will receive Jukai with the community bearing witness. All are welcome to join us. Then on Friday begins Kaz's calligraphy workshop, always a joy! To register for the calligraphy program registrar@upaya.org.

Roshi is often at the Refuge, supporting the building of hermitages on our extraordinary mountain retreat. We are grateful to Alan Wallace who has sent his remarkable students to the Refuge to be in long retreat. Mischa Gentry has been a wonderful presence with his tireless energy and exceptional gifts, and we as well welcome Paul Krueger, another of Alan's students, who will be helping Mischa over the coming days. The first hermitage is welll underway and even Roshi was pounding nails to move this project along.

Our schedule for 2010 is almost set and we advise early registration, as there is limited housing at Upaya and our programs are filling much earlier than last year. registrar@upaya.org

Upaya is accepting applications for the Path of Service, an exceptional program for those who wish to practice and serve at Upaya from three months to a year. pos@upaya.org

The arts pilgrimage to Japan with Roshi Joan and Sensei Kaz is almost full. If you are interested in joining them for this unique journey, contact the office as soon as possible. registrar@upaya.org

Roshi Joan

Roshi has had a rich month of practice and teaching. The chaplaincy candidates have been at Upaya for two weeks of the Summer Practice Period and the experience with them has been profoundly rewarding for her. The chance to work closely with such a dedicated group is very important to her, as her teaching is concentrated these days on compassionate action in the world. She is currently in sesshin, and will participate in the calligraphy retreat with her good friend Kaz Tanahashi. Then she and Sensei Beate leave for Europe to teach at Felsentor in Switzerland. She returns from Europe on Sept. 7 and goes to the Refuge for personal practice and to support the building of hermitages.

The Upaya bookstore has a number of Roshi's dharma talks on DVD. Please call the front office for titles and ordering, 505-986-8518, or email upaya@upaya.org

The Chinese filmmaker Kam Sung has made a fascinating and visually poetic account of Roshi Joan in Tibet. A high-resolution version on DVD is now available from Upaya. Email at upaya@upaya.org or call 505-986-8518 to order.

Roshi Joan's 6-CD series on Being with Dying (from Sounds True Audio) is now available. Call 505-986-8518 to order or email: upaya@upaya.org

Listen to Roshi on the Radio: Being with Dying: CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/archives/2009/071209.html Roshi Joan Halifax is one of the most respected spiritual teachers you will meet. Thomas Berry called her a “masterwork of an authentic spirit person”. Andrew Weil says she’s an “explorer, scholar, wild woman, visionary.”

Nearly 20 years ago, Roshi Joan founded the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she teaches Buddhism and trains those who care for the dying. Her interest in palliative care began a long time ago when she was married to the brilliant psychiatrist Stanislav Grof. Together, they wrote a book: The Human Encounter with Death about the people they considered to be the least cared-for in the hospital system. Besides, the Roshi says, working with the dying is about the most life-affirming thing you can do. Roshi Joan's latest book is called Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death. It's published by Shambhala.

Dharma Podcast: Dan Siegel

Speaker: Daniel Siegel, MD

Dr. Dan Siegel begins the evening session by taking questions about second language acquisition, the causes of schizophrenia, healing trauma, neural networks in the viscera and the mechanism of fear. Then, he leads the group in meditations on mindfulness of the breath and on mindfulness of mental activity. Direct link: http://www.upaya.org/dharma/neurobiology-of-we-part-6-of-9/

Oct 23 - Nov 8: Fall Practice Period: Radical Buddhism

Soil that is dirty grows the countless things. Water that is clear has no fish. Thus as a mature person you properly include and retain a measure of grime. You can’t just go along enjoying your own private purity and restraint. --Vegetable Root Sutra

Buddhism is undergoing a powerful transformation process as it encounters the West and is becoming a global force for good in our imperiled world. This practice period, based in a continuity of meditation practice, explores the radicalization of Buddhism through the works and insights of renowned Buddhist teachers Stephen and Martine Batchelor, Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Beate Genko Stolte, and Sharon Salzberg.

The practice period includes all aspects of Buddhist study and life, interviews with teachers, dharma talks, sesshin, and seminars. A unique faculty collaborates to teach this year’s Fall Practice Period. One may participate for the whole practice period or by program. Appropriate for both seasoned practitioners and beginners. To register for the entire Practice Period , email registrar@upaya.org. You may also register for individual programs as noted below:

Upaya Buddhist Chaplaincy Training

Based on the work of the late Francisco Varela and the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this visionary program brings together science and humanism in a powerful way with Roshi Joan Halifax, Joanna Macy and an exceptional faculty. http://www.upaya.org/training/chaplaincy/ or email: chaplaincy@upaya.org A visionary two-year certificate program based in Buddhist teachings and systems thinking. Co-Directors: Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Fleet Maull; Coordinator: Maia Duerr. With outstanding faculty.

Engaged Buddhism at Upaya

You should absorb yourself in contemplation in such a way that you can manifest all ordinary behaviors without forsaking cessation. --Vimalakirti

MINDFULNESS MUST BE ENGAGED: There are so many ways we can serve our communities. Please click for information on Upaya's service programs on caring for the sick and those in prison. Here are pathways for you to engage in:

Metta Refuge Council: Tuesday, 9:45 a.m., a meeting for people who are ill, their caregivers, hospice volunteers, nurses, and those interested in exploring issues around sickness, aging and death. Beginning around 11:20 a.m. until 12:05 p.m. the group engages in contemplative writing as a way to explore what is present for people in the moment. No writing experience is needed. For more information, please contact Susan Benjamin at ArtTherapy@aol.com. For details: http://www.upaya.org/action/caring.php

The Upaya Prison Project serves prisons residents at Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center and the Penitentiary of New Mexico. New volunteers are starting training to work "inside", teach stress management through meditation, simple yoga, and confidential conversation in a protected place. More volunteers are needed to teach life skills and social skills. If this interests you, email Ray Olson atnanrayols@aol.com.

Please help support our projects by making a donation to Upaya Zen Center for the Metta Program or Upaya Prison Project. We are deeply grateful for any donation.

Upaya Compassionate Action Network (UCAN!)

The Upaya Compassionate Action Network (UCAN!) is turning our attention to Nuclear Disarmament this month. We've posted extensive background on this subject, from a Buddhist perspective, as well as suggested actions and resources.

Sadly, the situation in Burma has not improved (our focus issue for April and May). We've archived the background and actions for Burma in the Discussion Board area of this page, and it remains on our page on the Upaya site: http://www.upaya.org/action/ucan.php

Please continue to remember Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma. Should another urgent action be recommended, we will keep you posted.

The Path of Service at Upaya

Please visit our website at http://www.upaya.org/about/path-of-service.php for more information andapplication instructions or write pos@upaya.org. If you’ve been looking to deepen your experience of Zen practice - and to be of benefit to others - consider our Path of Service program. Upaya is currently accepting applicants for our front desk, garden, kitchen, and maintenance departments. Path of Service residents stay for a minimum of three months and participate in three daily Zazen periods, seminars, practice periods and Sesshins. Explore your practice of the Buddha’s teachings with Roshi Joan Halifax and Sensei Beate Stolte. In addition, some of the premier Dharma teachers from around the country and world come to Upaya to lead retreats and give Dharma talks.

Being at Upaya

There are many ways to be at Upaya... come for a personal retreat, volunteer your time, or apply for our Work Exchange or Path of Service Program. We especially would love an inspired gardener this season!

Path of Service: Upaya is accepting applications for residency, inviting practitioners to live and serve here from three months to a year. For more information, requirements and for the application forms see: http://www.upaya.org/about/path-of-service.php or contact: yushin@upaya.org This is a wonderful way to give of your energy, deepen your zen/Buddhist practice, and be in a thriving sangha.

Enjoy and learn from the opportunity to receive zen teachings from Roshi Joan Halifax, Sensei Beate Genko Stolte and many other extraordinary teachers; hear weekly seminars and dharma talks; have dokusan with Sensei Beate, and experience the deep joy of living in community. Click here for more information about the month long Work Exchange or three month residency program: http://www.upaya.org/about/path-of-service.php

Personal Retreat/Guest Practitioner: Quiet, still, peaceful -- Upaya is a special place in the spring with intimate rooms, kiva fireplaces and breathtaking views. Spend some time here and find your own rhythm as a personal retreatant. To learn more about enjoying a peronal retreat at Upaya or coming as a guest practitioner, please contact roberta by calling 505-986-8518 X12, emailing registrar@upaya.org or visit: http://www.upaya.org/programs/being-at-upaya.php

Volunteer at our front desk, kitchen, garden or in housekeeping. Our volunteer program is intended for people who wish to contribute to Upaya and spend time working with the resident sangha; it is non-residential. For those who have the financial need, volunteer hours can be exchanged for retreat participation. In that case, a $10 hourly rate is credited for your work, and a maximum of 80% of the tuition may be earned and must be earned in advance of the event. Contact Roberta 505-986 8518, ext 12 or registrar@upaya.org.

Prajna Mountain Forest Refuge

Do not ask me where I am going; As I travel this boundless world, every step I take is my home--Dogen

We need carpenters, builders, at the Refuge this season to help with building our first hermitages. Contact peggy@upaya.orgFALL HARVEST AT PRAJNA Sept. 27 - Oct. 5th. To register, contact Upaya (registrar@upaya.org).

We are also very interested in hosting volunteers — “Friends of the Refuge” — in three categories:• Skilled workers we know (at no charge);• Skilled workers we haven’t met before (with references, one week at no charge);

For the Refuge:

Is your garage over full? We can help! In building our new hermitages, we need these tools. Perhaps you want to open things up and give some things away. Donations are gratefully accepted. Contact: Peg at murraypeg@hotmail.com

The splendor of Japan’s ancient and contemporary arts will be experienced in many extraordinary settings in the course of this journey. registrar@upaya.org We begin our time in Japan by staying at the Daishin’in Temple in Kyoto, part of the enormous Zen training compound of Myoshinji Temple, with traditional Buddhist buildings and stone gardens. We meditate and join a morning service led by the abbot, and visit Daitokuji, another main Zen temple of the old capital city, noted for its exceptional gardens and paintings related to tea ceremony.

We then travel west to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and its artworks sourced in the tragedy of the atom bombing of Hiroshima. We also visit nearby Itsukushima Shrine, one of Japan’s most beautiful Shinto shrines, built in the twelfth century off the shores of the inland sea.

We then travel to Kurashiki, and the ancient merchant quarter, the Bikan historical area. This area of the city is surrounded by unique examples of seventeenth-century wooden warehouses called kura plastered white with traditional black tiles, along a canal framed with weeping willows and filled with koi. We visit the Kurashiki Folk Art Museum and Korakuen Garden, which is one of the three most renowned gardens of Japan. Kurashiki is also home to Japan's first Western art museum, the Ohara Museum of Art. Established in 1930 by Magosaburo Ohara, it contains masterpieces by El Greco, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, and Renoir. The collection also has fine examples of Asian and contemporary art.

From Kurashiki, we take a train across the inland sea to Shikoku Island and visit the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Yashima. We stay at a hot spring ryokan in Takamatsu, where in the morning, we take a ferry to the small island of Naoshima, which is an island located in the Seto Inland Sea. It is renowned for its collection of contemporary art galleries and exhibits. Best known for the Benesse House complex and there has been extensive domestic attention to the recently (2006) completed radical Chichu Art Museum. Designed by the architect Tadao Ando, it is a tour de force of architectural expression integrating art and architecture. The work of Claude Monet, Walter de Maria and James Turrell will never have more appropriate exhibition. Old village houses as well have been converted into art spaces showcasing Japanese and international artists. The island itself has been settled as long as there have been Japanese. We spend two full days on the island of Naoshima, exploring the arts, practice, beaches, and the natural beauty of the remarkable environment.

From Naoshima, we travel to the hot spring town of Ishiyama, near Lake Biwa. We visit the Miho Museum, designed by I.M. Pei. We also visit Shigaraki, the ancient center for pottery making. Shigaraki wares were originally daily utensils with tsubo (jars), kame (wide-mouthed jars) and suribachi (grinding bowls). Not until the tea masters of the Muromachi (1336-1568) and Momoyama (1568-1603) periods favored these natural wares did they develop into one of Japan's most loved ceramic styles. Works produced here are known as Shigaraki-yaki. Many local potters use wood-fired anagama kilns. Shigaraki pottery is thought to have begun in the end of the Kamakura period (1192-1333).

In our last days, we return to Kyoto and visit Sanjusangen-do, a temple that enshrines over one thousand Buddhist images—all national treasures. We also visit the Shinto shrine, Fushimi Inari Jinja, with its innumerable vermillion Torii gates.

Our journey includes enjoying the works of Zen nun Rengetsu and great painter Hokusai, traditional temples, hotsprings, the fine cuisine of Japan, free time for walks and exploring rural and urban Japan, time for practice and dharma talks by Roshi Joan, and discussions by Kaz on the arts of Japan.

Membership Offering

This year, our membership sangha has grown, thanks to you. Your membership gives so much to Upaya, and we in turn offer freepodcasts, daily practice, exceptional teachings, and service to those in prisons and at the end of life. We ask you to become a member of Upaya and support all that happens in this unique place of practice.

For less than the cost of an evening out, your monthly donation will make a real difference in sustaining Roshi's work, Sensei Beate's wonderful teachings, and Upaya's existence. sign up online. You can also become a member by calling Roberta Koska, Upaya's registrar at 505-986-8518 X12.

As a way to show our appreciation for your support, members receive some wonderful benefits (including discounts on Upaya retreats). And if you sign up as a new member or renew your membership by September 1, you'll receive a CD of some of the best dharma talks from Upaya.

Last words........

A famous spiritual teacher came to the front door of the King’s palace. None of the guards tried to stop him as he entered and made his way to where the King himself was sitting on his throne. “What do you want?” asked the King, immediately recognizing the visitor.

“I would like a place to sleep in this inn,” replied the teacher.

“But this is not an inn,” said the King, “It is my palace.”

“May I ask who owned this palace before you?”

“My father. He is dead.”

“And who owned it before him?”

“My grandfather. He too is dead.”

“And this place where people live for a short time and then move on, did I hear you say that it is not an inn?”

Ways to be involved..........

Upaya Institute Website: http://www.beingwithdying.org This website is for those who are interested in the Professional Training Program on Contemplative End-of-Life Care; it contains articles, news, training programs, audio and video programs, and will be enriched with important materials over the next months.